Starting pumping for an older baby

[AngelDog]

I am likely to need to stop bf'ing DS2 sooner than I would ideally like due to some health issues (not till he is at least 12 months though).

I was thinking of expressing and freezing milk during the last few months of bf'ing him so he can keep on having bm for a while even after I stop nursing him.

Would my supply be responsive enough to pumping to start at maybe 9 months or later, or should I be thinking of starting pumping now (he's 5 m.o.) so that when I need to start stockpiling I have a sufficiently abundant supply?

As far as I know you can only keep breast milk for 3 months in the freezer, I'm sure someone with better advice will be along soon though

The advice I've had is that you can freeze for 6 months. Your supply will adjust itself whenever you start pumping, but it can take a while to get the hang of it and actually produce some milk. I usually express a couple of oz off one boob while dd is latched on the other, which does the trick, although I could do with an extra hand...

Before you commit to this plan, you should check if your breast milk has the "excess lipase" issue.

if it does, it will develop a bad taste while being stored, even while frozen, and your DC may not drink it once defrosted. this happened to me and all my frozen bm is now unusable.

the way to test: express (by hand or pump) some breastmilk and keep it in the fridge. taste it after 12 hours, 24, 48 etc. if you don't have excess lipase, the milk should stay fresh and sweet tasting for at least 48 hours plus. if you do, the milk will start to taste nasty within that time (mine tastes sour/vomitty after 24 hours).

if you do have this issue, you can deactivate the lipase by scalding the milk briefly immediately after exprssing, before freezing it. this means it won't go bad. but it's a pain and it does remove some of the benefits of bm.

oh, and I was told BM is good for 6 months in the freezer IF it's a self contained freezer and not opened and shut with the fridge all the time. also don't store in freezer door.

Thanks, everyone.

I don't think I have lipase problems (didn't notice it with DS1, but he only had frozen milk once or twice and DS2 could be fussier).

IIRC Kellymom says you can keep it for 12 months, but ideally 6 months in a free-standing freezer.